Beer: Ratings & Reviews

Reviews by Quej:

A - A dark yellow very cloudy beer with lots of rocky head which lasts long.

S - Smells strongly of citrus, cloves and apple with a slight burn of alcohol.

T - Immediately, strong tastes of citrus and fruit with lots of spiciness and coriander. Sharp taste of spice and a very solid amount of bitterness especially towards the finish which is whip quick from the hops. Lots of complex fruits and spicy flavours with the sharpness of alcohol.

M - Light and tingly and only slightly burning from the alcohol. Very cleansing and refreshing.

D - Its drinkability is rather low, due to its high alcohol taste and complex medley of flavours which should be enjoyed thoroughly.

More User Reviews:

33cl brown bottle poured into an Oerbier oversized wine glass. The brew appears a golden orange color with a rich white cap that is 3 fingers strong. The cap slowly fades leaving spots and a webbing pattern of lace sticking all over the glass. Rising bubbles maintain a film across the surface that lasts for quite awhile. A swirl effortlessly revives a finger of yellowish stained meringue atop the brew.

The aroma of this brew is mildly sweet with an essence that is like belgian candy sugar mixed with a sort of orange marmalde. There are some earthen notes and a tingle of something suggesting a faded amount of herbal hops. A very mild alcohol ester rounds things out and makes for a very enjoyable set of aromatics.

The flavor opens with that previously described belgian candy-like sweetness. Some earthen tones blend into a mild oxidative touch of cardboard/wet paper and finish with a very light touch of herbal hops. The hops present themselves with such a mild flavor and a low amount of bitterness to assist in balancing out the upfront sweetness of the brew. The aftertaste gets progressively earthen as the experience continues with a soft warmth of alcohol becoming more evident as the brew warms up.

This is a medium bodied brew with a perfect level of moderate to lively carbonation. The liveliness of the carbonation assists in moving the flavors of this strong brew across the tongue without becoming taxing. I would love to be able to definitively state how old this brew is but of course, such a means is not precisely documented. I can hardly make out a marking on the neck of the bottle that reads 350 07 which makes me think this was a 2007 best by date. Regardless, the age is felt in this with the oxidative touch and visually the bottle is stained in the familiar pattern conducive of a beer that has been resting for quite some time. Plain and simple, I need to buy more of this and drink it instead of laying it aside for years at a time.

Poured a very pretty gold with mild haze adorned with a large white head that lasted quite a while. A fairly complex nose. Honeycrisp apples, bartlett pears, touch of riesling, clove, white pepper, and apricots. Maybe some golden raisins too. There's a lot going on here. Bit of earthiness (not like the lambic kind though), it's tough to explain that one. Maybe from the hop variety they use. But the beer is superbly smooth and drinkable. Quite a fantastic beer.

A hazy orange color, it is very well carbonated and it produces a thick white head. It has a spicy dry slightly funky cheese aroma. The carbonation prickles the front of my tongue, as I take a sip. A very spicy funky Belgian brew. Lightly sweet in the finish, which ultimately ends with an astringent aftertaste. Fruity with perhaps some tropical fruit notes, a certain woodiness is in this beer as well. I get notes of some wild-woody mushroom type character as well. There is no acidic sourness in this beer, unlike some of there other offerings. Very good and quite complex, it is amazing how good the beers from this small country brewery can be.

Pours a hazy peah-like color with just a volcanic head that took over most of my tulip glass leaving nice sheets of lace behind,big pinapple aroma from the offset with some clovey spiciness and a little cinnamon thrown in there as well.The flavor along with the aroma has a strong pinapple character with a big yeasty-spiciness in there as well,as it warms a little the alcohol pops up more along with some light mineral qualities.Glad to try this beer very well made with some subtle complexities I really like the fruitiness to it will love to have again.

Appearance  This was a monster head. It came up quickly, hung around forever, and laced the crap out of my wide-mouthed Chimay glass. The body was a deep orange color and slightly darkened.

Smell  The spicy sweet stuff comes out here. The coriander and cinnamon play well with the peach, orange, coconut, and apple scents. Theres some malt in there as well, but mostly the sweet fruits and spice steal the show.

Taste  The yeasty, bready taste comes out more at the tongue. The tropical fruits and spices are there as well. This is a nice BSPA.

Mouthfeel  Heavily carbonated in accordance with the style. This is a full-bodied ale with great depth.

Drinkability  If you like BSPAs, youll love this offering. If you dont, you wont.

Appearance  This was a monster head. It came up quickly, hung around forever, and laced the crap out of my wide-mouthed Chimay glass. The body was a deep orange color and slightly darkened.

Smell  The spicy sweet stuff comes out here. The coriander and cinnamon play well with the peach, orange, coconut, and apple scents. Theres some malt in there as well, but mostly the sweet fruits and spice steal the show.

Taste  The yeasty, bready taste comes out more at the tongue. The tropical fruits and spices are there as well. This is a nice BSPA.

Mouthfeel  Heavily carbonated in accordance with the style. This is a full-bodied ale with great depth.

Drinkability  If you like BSPAs, youll love this offering. If you dont, you wont.

Update: Re-tasted in 2004 and picked up a lot bigger Belgian hop balance along with shades of sourness. I enjoyed the Mouthfeel more and raised this category, as well as Drinkability, by 0.5.

The cap pops off with a huge burst of CO2. It explodes into the glass with a huge pillowy head. I had to leave about 1/3 of the beer left in the bottle or the head would have overflowed. If you are familiar with the size of a Duvel tulip this is no small feat. The etching on the bottom is letting out a stream of bubbles akin to a tornado. Man this beer is carbonated. The color is a ever so hazy bright orange. When the head finally dies down to a manageable size sticky big bubbles are left sticking to the sides of the glass.

The nose has fruit notes of orange and apricot. After that some typical oily spicy Belgian yeast comes through with just a little bit of alcohol. It's not an overly complex or as strong as some other BSPA I've had.

The flavor is huge orange citrus flavor but not like a orange hop flavor. Pretty typical yeast bite at the end. Alcohol flavors also make themselves present at the backend. I'm just not wowed by the flavor very much and find it pretty average. It's not very exciting and the flavors are pretty heavy handed which I'm not really looking for in a supposed light bodied BSPA.

The mouthfeel right out of the bottle is terrible because of the carbonation. Bubbles just form in your mouth and its distracting as hell. After 20 minutes in the duvel glas it's died down and become quite creamy in the middle but still finishes dry. That's pretty unique and I'm enjoying it. The drinkability is just above average, mostly due to the alcohol taste and the carbonation.

Appearance: Cloudy, tarnished gold. The head on this damn beer is like a meringue! It floats, and jiggles!

Smell: Very aromatic, on the sweet side with hits of raw honey, citric gummy candy and herbal tea aromas. Breathing through the nose and mouth will pick up pleasant apple aromas.

Taste: First taste is creamy and smooth, on the palate this is light bodied but with definite mouthfeel. Then follows a bold amount of raw sugar flavours, and some fruitiness that can be likened to plum ... and allows carries some plum tartness into a spicy yeast and hop combination. Right behind follows a magnificent blend of toasted and caramel malt flavours, with a touch of butter. Finishes tea-like (herbal), then dry with yeast notes.

Notes: Hot damn! This about as unique as it gets fellow advocates. Todd bought this at the 't Brugs Beertje in Brugs for 140 BF. Buy it and savour it friends.

A - Big rush of air when the cap comes off. Definitely carbonated. My first attempt at a slow pour yields one finger of beer and five fingers of dense white head that lasts forever and coats the glass with lacing. Liquid is clear golden brown. Nice.

S - A mild but persistent funk, with a lot of fruit. White grape, green apple, faint peach and raisin.

T - Taste starts with white grape and a bit of apple, before an earthy funk with moderate hop bitterness and a mild spiciness kicks in. The more subtle fruit flavors from the aroma don't really make it into the taste unfortunately. Still, quite tasty, but seems a bit more like a Belgian IPA than a strong pale. Some noticeable alcohol in the taste.

M - Very lively carbonation gives an almost champagne-like mouthfeel. Rather dry with an earthy, bitter finish.

O - Another interesting brew from a very good brewery, though not my favorite from them. The earthy bitterness and the fruitiness didn't seem as harmonious as they could have been, but I would still have this again.

Pours a golden color with an almost translucent appearance. Not as cloudy as most unfiltereds (is that a word?). Strong head retention with a light amount of lacing.

Exhibits an extremely fruity / floral aroma. I detect a hint of peach undertones. Very perfumy.

Taste has lots of hop in the back, and the bitterness lingers for a long time. Very floral with a strong level of carbonation. Swirling it around in my mouth, i detect a very clean overall taste. The most prominent flavors coming from the hop bitterness/dry-hopping. Overall, very bitter for a belgian, especially considering the high abv (they had it listed as 9%). I would it expect it to be a bit sweeter with this much alcohol.

This beer really reminds me of some american pales (like SN) with a bit more of a sweet/fruity kick. After the Oerbier, my favorite de dolle brew.

Taste: “Flash in the pan” tartness as the moderate body sets in. So smooth and crisp with a lined yeasty bite. Short musty buttery middle. Fruity with lemon and tart apple tones. Husky grain and medicinal phenols mix things up. Alcohol wants to come out but it hides until the warmth hits when the brew is nearly finished. Spicy hop and alcohol twist lay down with a kiss of honey like maltiness. Yeast adds another layer of chalkiness towards the end as the brew dries.

Notes: Oh baby, this is a nice one. One to have on occasion to bring the whole beer thing into perspective. Meaning that even pale brew can be this complex and flavourful yet drinkable at the same time.

Another bottle conditioned volcano, 3 inches of rugged head in a Duvel glass. Highly sedimented dull bronze color, laces like cotton on a Christmas tree. Light aroma, spare yeast and a lemon cough drop kind of malt, a little different. Flavor is marked by a hard to descibe maltiness, present with decent body but counteracted by a considerable bitterness -- a one/two of citric pith drying to pine needles. Whew, can't say this one is a favorite but an arid and bitter alternative to the thick and malty brews. Very much worth trying, there's a lot going on here.

Pours a towering head of white foam over a hazy golden body. Nice lace. Aromas of tart green apple and citric fruit over light malt. Well carbonated, yet the flavor and body is smooth-- not to mention complex! Notes of earth, coriander, light caramel, bread, and a light malty, almost cotton candy-esque, sweetness mingle with each other in the flavor. There are hints of the green apple in there too, but it's ever so subtle. A touch of diaceytl butteriness rounds out the show. The medium body is smooth, but light on the tongue.

This beer is a beautiful study in complexity, balance and the power of moderation. The ABV is not noticeable at all, and the beer comes off as quite refreshing, but not lacking in complexity at all. This would be my house beer if I could afford it ( both in terms of price and the devious ABV)!
Divine.

Pours a hazy golden color with a two-finger white head. The head recedes into a thin pancake on top leaving thick lacing.

Smells of overly ripe and sugar-coated pears with good amounts of slightly tart red apples.

Tastes very good. Pear and a combination of green and red apple flavors up front segue into a good dose of Belgian candi sugar. The ending holds a slight tartness with a solid dryness.

Mouthfeel is good. It's got a good thickness with very active carbonation.

Drinkability is good. I had no problem finishing the bottle and could have another, maybe even more.

Overall this is another very good beer from De Dolle, but somewhat in the middle of the pack. There's a lot going on here but the flavors don't meld as seamlessly as they do in De Dolle's other beers. Still, well worth a shot.

Apparently only getting about half a beer tonight. Popped the top and beer went everywhere. Evidently some serious bottle carbonation going on here. Pours a dark brown with a nice huge head that went everywhere. Head sticking around for a decent amount of time. Nice and tasty aroma with sweetness and malt on the back end. Flavor is amlty but definitely noticeable alcohol on the end. Color is fairly cloudy. Great beer.